Frame by Frame Analysis of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Trailer

Kelvarhin – Can’t help wondering if Legolas isn’t as good with the bow as we always thought, he does seem to need to get awfully close to his targets.

Garfeimao – I’m wondering if we have our timeline off here. This almost looks like Legolas is capturing this Orc. We did see, after all, Legolas and Tauriel bring an Orc before Thranduil for questioning in the sneak peek.

grammaboodawg – There! I never get tired of seeing the statuesque strength of Legolas Greenleaf. I think he’s got himself a prisoner for interrogation.

Elessar – Tauriel jumping from who knows where. Again gotta have some balance with these things. Legolas had these moments in The Lord of the Rings but it was only a few. You can’t have too many or it gets a bit OTT.

Garfeimao – Now Elves, I can almost believe in flying elves, such as Tauriel here.

deej – Nice to see that Legolas isn’t going to get all of the “bad ass” scenes.

greendragon – that’s Glamdring Gandalf is holding, right? So this must be after the encounter with William, Bert and Tom, once Gandalf has found the sword. Again, seems to make sense with him visiting Dol Guldur with Radagast after he leaves the company at the edge of Mirkwood. But then HOW does he have the map and key already in AUJ, if he hasn’t yet met Thrain? Maybe this isn’t Thrain…. but then who is it? Judging from the patterning on his tattered clothing, his hair and his height, it’s a dwarf. It’s got to be Thrain, surely…

Elessar – Thrain, I’m assuming, about to land on Gandalf. Why is he jumping from 30ft above Gandalf? Again a little too much maybe, and it needs to be not so crazy with these moments.

Garfeimao – If this is Thrain, then it’s OK that he’s acting crazy and jumping from insane heights; he’s not in his right mind. If it is someone else, nevermind. Of course, still trying to get a handle on the timeline here. Of course, the fact Gandalf is holding Glamdring would mean this was after he had passed the map and key to Thorin, but that does not mean that Thrain isn’t still haunting this area. So this could be a second meeting between the two.

MrCere – What makes jumping from there not OK, is that no matter how crazy he is, his body and bones would crumple like an accordion.

grammaboodawg – Geez! Why does this remind me of Shelob hovering above Frodo about to pounce!?

Garfeimao – Watch out Gandalf, it’s Thraining Dwarves.

MrCere – Is he jumping down to stab Gandalf or hit him or scare him? This could be fatal for either party with the force this would create.

grammaboodawg – Normally you wouldn’t think Gandalf could be snuck up on like this. But the last thing I think he was expecting was a mad Dwarf.

greendragon – ‘Does my hair still look ok….?’

MrCere – Such hair would be so impractical for an Elvish warrior, but it certainly looks great.

grammaboodawg – Where is this!? I’m thinking it’s Dale.

Elessar – Well at least we know she’s flexible. lol What I want to know is, is this the same moment we see earlier with Azog? Are we going to have a fight with Tauriel/Legolas/Azog? Do we see Azog and/or Tauriel dead?

ButtonLady – Good point. We could see Tauriel die, since she’s an addition. She could be the movie’s Haldir.

ImladrisRose – I hope they don’t kill her off, because we are just meeting her in this movie. At least Haldir (although wrongfully killed) was in FOTR & TTT. I want to understand: why the need to create such a character. Looking forward to seeing what she brings to the other characters as well.

Garfeimao – Everybody Limbo!

MrCere – I think this is a nifty bit of super hero battle action. Probably not what Tolkien had in mind, but I really enjoy that she is aware of everything going on around her during battle.

grammaboodawg – Why do I get the feeling Tauriel’s spidey-sense is higher than your average Elf?

MrCere – This is a tall, tall tree. Somebody at home with time and intelligence could figure out how tall, but a fall from here would end in obliteration.

grammaboodawg – Bilbo’s falling from a tree again!? The webbing tells it’s got to be spider-associated. Did he get knocked out of the tree?

Garfeimao – Wow, Bilbo seems to be doing almost gymnastics style moves here to move through the trees. Here he looks to be doing a kip up onto that branch. That can’t be easy with a sword strapped on, and may be the reason the Ring is seen on the ground from way back in the very first AUJ trailer.

grammaboodawg – It looks like Bilbo was jumping and not falling from higher branches… on his way to rescuing Dwarves? He’s so high up!

MrCere – This shot of a leaping orc happens a lot in this trailer, with various characters. It is pretty safe to assume this is a CGI orc and that does give PJ a dynamic ability to do things that he couldn’t before. However, I prefer practical orcs by quite a lot.

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